Scott Brooks
Vice Admiral Scott Ryan Brooks (occasionally referred to by suboordinates as "Samurai Scott", in part, for his rumoured abilities at kendo and proven capabilities effectively teaching as a courageous, capable and experianced leader) was a UNSC Navy Admiral, serving in the post-Human-Covenant War era and during Necros War. An astute (albeit, very bold) tactician and teacher, a firm believer of leading through example, and a highly decorated career naval officer, Brooks participated in a great number of fleet actions during his long career in the UNSC Navy. His fate was sealed with the heroic and desperate final stand of the UNSC Pringle and the small assortment of warships that comprised the defensive screen of Transport Division Three, which allowed for sufficent time for the successful withdrawal of deployed combat personnel from a hostile planet and the escape of vulnerable transport craft: a brave defensive action earning Admiral Brooks a posthumous Colonial Cross. Biography Scott Brooks was born to a war-torn Earth in mid-September, 2556. His parents had served in the UNSC Navy as junior officers during the Human-Covenant War, meeting and marrying in the Midwest of the American continent. They found themselves struggling in the post-war depression, managing to eke by as a middle class standard of living. Scott's formative years had him learning the value of both hard work and smart work with a tenacious struggle to excel at and profit from various jobs balanced against performance from school. Scott became a strong-willed and fiercely independent adult, excelling at his studies in the areas of physics and mathematics. Discussions with his parents about their careers in the Navy lead to his frequent gazing up at the stars, cementing a certainty within him that his destiny was in the inky depths of vacuum, amongst the stars explored and not. In 2574, at the age of 18, Scott's tenaciousness in his academic pursuits paid off in the form of a scholarship offered by the UNSC Navy to be inducted into the Navy, become a midshipman and attend the Luna Military Academy at Luna for a naval career. His entry dependant on a successful completion of basic training, he threw himself wholeheartedly into the training, finding himself appointed command of a section of recruits. Brooks found that, while the rigid discipline, protocol and customs and courtesies to be quite stifling, the challenge and responsibility of commanding of a body of personnel to act as a well-oiled machine and achieve goals to be intoxifying. Equally so, the feeling of a sidearm recoiling in his hand, symbolising the power and effectiveness afforded by offensive technology solidified his desire to become a line officer. Successfully passing basic training and inducted into the Navy, Brooks was pleased to discover the ease in which he was able to delve into effective study whilst also collecting a pay-check from the military. He sunk his studies into that of astronavigation and naval engineering for the first year of his education, before reluctantly relegating engineering to be his minor in order to pursue the bridge officer track. His academy record proved to be stellar, achieving excellent marks in his course work and excelling in his elective of boxing, achieving the Luna Military Academy boxing title for 2575 - a title defended in 2576 and then lost in his final year. He additionally found himself to be a capable swordsman in kendo, perhaps in part of his boxing experiance. Brooks found himself graduating inside the Nimitz Hall with several thousand of his fellow midshipmen on the 22nd of May, 2577 with a Bachelor of Science, where his excellent performance paid dividend in the form of being ranked third within his class: a prestigious achievement that guaranteed Brooks a fine first assignment as a naval officer. Military Career The newly-commissioned Ensign Brooks was given orders to report to the Marathon-class cruiser UNSC Grapes of Wrath as a junior damage-control officer. His duties placed him on the bridge on watches, manning the damage control console. Quickly becoming proficient in his duties, he proved himself to be a competent and effective member of the bridge crew. He served onboard the vessel exemplary well, apart from two fights with multiple Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Both fights were caused by the Special Forces troops' deeply rooted feeling of superiority; that they were "more badass" then the Navy troops, and, after enduring constant ridicule, the young Officer finally decided to put the most hardcore of the ODSTs in their place. He came out on top both times, albeit bloody; and had to be forcibly dragged out of the foray by a pair master at arms. Quite possibly, young Lieutenant Brooks came out on top, because of childhood-developed skills in unarmed combat. As a result of these encounters, he took a few advanced courses in unarmed combat and firearms, which would later serve him well. , with a Large Unit Combat Optical Gunsight scope, a fore grip and a AN/PVS-44 NIGHT FIRE light.]] He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and rotated off the Grapes of Wrath in late 2580, and, instead of being given a billet on a bridge of a warship, he was instead shipped off to Reach for a two-month course on commanding a ship. Following his passing of the course, he was given command of a Slipspace-capable UNSC Cutter, the UNSC Hemingway, and ordered to patrol interstellar space along slipspace routes. He learned much of his leadership ability from his time commanding the 57-man crew, and he bonded very well with his crew, where he was regarded as a firm, but fair commander. He also took advantage of being allowed, as a Commander of a vessel, to carry a weapon on his person on the Bridge; the M98 Compact Pistol. With is, combined with his advanced combat classes he took back in 2577, aboard the Grapes of Wrath, served him well, allowing him to single handidly defended his bridge from jackal privateers, while the rest of his crew fought to keep the Jackal's at bay on the rest of the ship. He then led his crew on board the privateer vessel, and captured it, with the entire conflict costing only 8 UNSC casualties; 3 dead and 5 wounded, compared to 69 jackal casualties. He continued his patrol, and returned to Earth with the Privateer vessel in tow. He commanded the Hemingway, until he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in 2583, and given command of an aging Frigate, the UNSC Arkansas, with a crew of 350. He lead the Frigate in various fleet actions, and, as a result, endeared himself to the crew and gained him nickname aboard the ship, "Bull", because of the risky and reckless maneuvers he put his ship though in combat. He earned a promotion to Commander in 2587, and commanded the Frigate, until the Arkansas was finally recalled to Earth for decommissioning late 2589. The crew of the Arkansas were dispersed to other ships, and Lieutenant Commander Brooks was given a Earth-side desk job, where he was in charge of the deployments of supply vessels. He held the job for two years, until he gained a billet as Executive Officer on a Marathon-class Cruiser, the UNSC San Fransisco in mid-2591. Brooks served on it for only six months, before the Captain of the San Fransisco, Captain Melissa Morrison, suffered a stroke, that, with the onset of complications, claimed her life in January 2592. Commander Brooks took command of the vessel, and commanded her valiantly until June 2592, when a new Captain was chosen during a refit above Earth. He continued his duties as XO, performing very well on his tour of duty on the San Fransisco, placing him on the fast track for promotion, until it was retired in August 2595. The career-Navy Officer gained his Captain's stripes in the later-portion of 2596, and he commanded a total of of 4 ships, during the 7 years he held the rank of Captain. After taking a few multi-ship command courses, he received his very first Cruiser command was in 2597, with the Thermopylae-class Cruiser, the UNSC Capetown, commanding a pair of Heimdall-class Frigates, with which he was sent to patrol interstellar space with. He served aboard it until late 2600, when he was rotated off, onto a brand-new Talion-class Battlecruiser, the UNSC Madball. He lead the ship in a dozen offensives and fleet actions, over the 3 and a half years he commanded her. He deeply enjoyed the time he commanded it, up until September 2603, when he gained his Rear Admiral's (lower half) stripes, to his pleasure, and was sent off to Advanced Command School at Luna for 6 months, before being transferred to a Amaterasu-class Cruiser-Carrier, in March 2604. Admiral Bull Brooks was a real fighting admiral, and intensely disliked commanding a Amaterasu-class Cruiser-Carrier, like the UNSC Voss, because, as a Ensign Ben Rielly stated; "Being assigned to a Amaterasu-class is a naval booby prize. You spend months patrolling dark space, doing nothing.". After only a year commanding the Voss, he requested a transfer to a bigger ship, and a bigger ship he got. He transferred off the Voss, and onto the , the UNSC Sabre of Dawn, which was "a real fighting ship", in his words, and he happily accepted command of Battlegroup Saber of Dawn, which consisted of a total of 16 ships, including the Saber of Dawn. Even when he gained his Rear Admiral (Upper half) stripes in December 2609, he continued to lead his battlegroup gallantly in combat, as well in patrol. Admiral Brooks gained his Vice Admirals stripes, becoming one of the younger Officers of that rank at the time. However, the cost of gaining the rank was that Bull Brooks lost his battlegroup. He had only just reached his 40 years of service in the UNSC Navy, at the age of 57, when he was transferred to command the rather dreary assignment of Transport Division Three, a 13 ship invasion fleet. He broke his flag on the UNSC Pringle, a Raijin-class Escort Destroyer, when the Necros War began. List of UNSC Navy Assignments Ensign *October 2574 - June 2576 ; Naval Academy, Luna Lieutenant (junior grade) *August 2576 - November 2580 ; UNSC Cruiser''Grapes of Wrath'', damage-control officer *November 2580 - December 2580 ; Naval Academy. Luna, 'Command of a Space-faring Warship' Lieutenant *January 2581 - March 2583 ; Slipspace-capable Cutter UNSC Hemingway, Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander *April 2583 - July 2587 ; UNSC Frigate Arkansas, Commanding Officer Commander *July 2587 - April 2589 ; UNSC Frigate Arkansas, Commanding Officer *April 2589 - August 2591 ; Sydney HIGHCOM facility, Staff Officer *September 2591 - March 2592 ; UNSC Cruiser San Fransisco, Executive Officer *March 2592 - June 2592 ; UNSC Cruiser San Fransisco, Acting-Commanding Officer *June 2592 - August 2595; UNSC Cruiser San Fransisco, Executive Officer Captain *July 2595 - September 2597 ; OCS, Luna, Multi-ship command course(s) *September 2597 - September 2600 ; UNSC Thermopylae-class Cruiser Capetown , Commanding Officer *November 2600 - September 2603 ; UNSC Talion-class Battlecruiser Madball , Commanding Officer Rear Admiral (lower half) *September 2603 - March 2604 ; OCS, Luna, Advanced Command School *April 2604 - May 2605 ; UNSC Amaterasu-class Cruiser-Carrier Voss, Commander of Battlegroup Voss *May 2605 - December 2609 ; UNSC Sabre of Dawn, Commander of Battlegroup Sabre of Dawn Rear Admiral (upper half) *December 2609 - September 2613 ; UNSC Sabre of Dawn, Commander of Battlegroup Sabre of Dawn Vice Admiral *October 2613 - ; UNSC Raijin-class Escort Destroyer Pringle, Commander of Transport Division Three Personality Scott Brooks was a brash and tough individual, quick to criticize, and slow to reward. He was not liked by many for his personality, but was also highly respected for his ability to command a fleet and a large number of people, albeit not too nicely or politely. Category:UNSC Naval Personnel